CHICAGO, March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology—the Society of Interventional Radiology's flagship publication—together with the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation, announced the inaugural JVIR Editor's Awards for Best Research Papers, a joint awards program.

"These scientific articles highlight very current and highly relevant areas of research in interventional radiology and vascular disease," said Ziv J Haskal, M.D., FSIR, the journal's editor-in-chief. "This year, the Journal of Vascular Interventional Radiology inaugurated two annual awards: for outstanding clinical research paper and outstanding laboratory investigation. These awards bear a monetary prize, granted by the SIR Foundation as acknowledgment of the essential, best-in-class research that is conducted in interventional radiology and published in JVIR, the global journal of the specialty," explained Haskal, who is also professor of radiology and surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and vice chair of strategic development and chief of vascular and interventional radiology, image-guided therapy and interventional oncology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, both in Baltimore. The articles were selected after a careful review of all manuscripts published in 2010.

"The SIR Foundation felt it was important to provide these awards to recognize the significant contributions to clinical and pre-clinical research produced by the outstanding physician scientists in the interventional radiology community," stated Gordon McLennan, M.D., FSIR, SIR Foundation chair and an interventional radiologist with the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.

"The manuscript by Minocha and his colleagues is a timely one, arriving ahead of a national call for awareness by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding retrievable caval filters and the need for practitioner focus on their removal when no longer needed," said Haskal. The paper "demonstrates how effective a dedicated effort in this area can be—a great model and service to patients," he noted.

"Misra and his co-authors delved into the basic cell biology and mediators of tissue proliferation in dialysis patients," explained Haskal. "The U.S. population is aging, and the number of patients requiring hemodialysis continues to grow rapidly. It is estimated that more than 120,000 interventions per year are performed in these patients to keep their vascular access functioning, often because of intimal hyperplasia. A better basic understanding of it can only lead to improved future treatments, better quality of life, fewer interventions and lower health system costs," he said.

For more information about the journal, contact Noemi C. Arthur, SIR senior director of communications, publications and clinical practice and JVIR managing editor, at narthur@SIRweb.org or (703) 460-5593. More information about the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology can be found online at www.SIRweb.org.

SIR Foundation is a scientific foundation dedicated to fostering research and education in interventional radiology for the purposes of advancing scientific knowledge, increasing the number of skilled investigators in interventional radiology and developing innovative therapies that lead to improved patient care and quality of life. Visit www.SIRFoundation.org.

The Society of Interventional Radiology is holding its 36th Annual Scientific Meeting March 26–31 at McCormick Place (West Building) in Chicago, Ill. The theme of the meeting is "IR Rising: Leading Image-guided Medicine," chosen to reflect interventional radiology's continued revolutionizing of modern medicine.